Conquest of the North
1 When Jabin king of Hazor came to know all this, he sent ambassadors to Jobab king of Madon, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Achshaph,
2 to the kings in the northern mountains, on the steppes to the south of Chineroth in the plains, and in the heights of Dor on the west,
3 to the Canaanites in the east and the west, to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites and Jebusites in the mountains, and the Hivites at the foot of Mount Her mon in the region of Mizpah.
4 And they set out with their troops, a multitude as numerous as the sand of the sea, accompanied by a great number of horses and chariots ready for combat.
5 All these kings joined forces and encamped toge ther at the spring of Merom to attack Israel.
6 Then Yahweh said to Joshua: “Do not be afraid, for tomorrow at this hour I will give them to you that you may sacrifice them to me. Cut the hocks of their horses and burn their chariots of war.”
7 So Joshua and all the armed men with him went to Merom and attacked them by sur prise.
8 Yahweh gave them into the hand of Is rael; the Israelites des troyed and pursued them as far as Great Sidon and Misrephoth-maim and as far as Mizpah to the east, without leaving anyone alive.
9 Joshua also carried out what Yahweh had commanded—cutting the hocks of the horses and burning the chariots.
10 At once Joshua turned back and conquered Hazor, and killed its king. At that time, Hazor was the capital of all those kingdoms.
11 He put to the sword all the inhabitants of that city, consecrating it in anathema. No one was left alive, and they immediately set the city on fire.
12 Joshua took all the cities of these kings and all their kings, and consecrated them in anathema according to what Moses, the servant of Yahweh, had commanded.
13 Israel set on fire all the cities except those lying on the slopes and on the heights; of these only Hazor was burned by Joshua.
14 The Israelites divided among themselves the plunder and the livestock of these cities, but they put to the sword the whole population without sparing anyone.
15 So what Yahweh had commanded Moses, and what Moses had entrusted to Joshua was completely fulfilled: Joshua did not neglect anything that Yahweh had commanded Moses.
16 So Joshua conquered all this land: the mountains, the Negeb, Goshen, the plains, the steppes, and the mountains of Israel with its plains.
17 From the region of the mountain range that rises up to Seir, as far as Baalgad in the valley of Leba non, to the foot of Mount Hermon, he des troyed all their kings—vanquishing and killing them.
18 The war Joshua waged against these kings lasted a long time;
19 there was no city that made peace with the Israe lites except the Hivites of Gibeon; all were conquered.
20 Yahweh gave all of them courage to fight against Israel, so that at the end, they could be consecrated in anathema and destroyed without pity as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
21 At that time, Joshua came back and wiped out the Anakim from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab and from all the mountains of Ju dah and Israel. They and their cities were given in anathema.
22 No Anakim was left in the land of Israel except in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod.
23 Joshua seized the whole land as Yah weh had directed Moses and gave it as an inheritance to the Israelites to be distributed among their tribes. With this, the land rested from war.
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Comments Joshua, Chapter 11
• 11.1 In chapter 11, Joshua’s campaign in the north of Palestine is described. There he captured Hasor which, with its 40,000 inhabitants, could be called a big city. We are given the impression that he conquered the entire coun try. Yet, chapters 13–19 show that each tribe had to conquer a section of land in a series of individual operations.